Stormtide Rising (Kirov Series Book 29)

by Schettler, John

  “But we’ll lose T1 next if I move now,” Blaxland complained.

  “We don’t need T1. The German army is already strung out the whole length of that bloody pipeline. It’s useless! H1 is another matter. That’s where we need to be, and with some semblance of concentration. You can’t throw things off willy-nilly in penny packet fashion. You need to pull your division together and move to cover H1. And you need to do that now, sir.”

  It wasn’t exactly proper for a Brigadier to dress down the commander of a full division like that. In truth, Kingstone had real seniority over Blaxland, and the latter was really just a Colonel posted as ‘General Officer Commanding’ the 10th Indian Division. Being a blunt and very direct man, Kingstone had made his point the only way he could.

  With that, the battle for the upper Euphrates was over. The river would now bend due east towards Iraq, and the vital pipeline junction near Hadithah. That was where the Brandenburgers were going, and that was where the British Indian defenders would have to be soon if they were to have any chance of stopping them.

  Briggs and his 5th Indian Division withdrew at noon, heading for Rawah, the last bridge on the Euphrates before it flowed into a wide area of marshland that was completely impassible north of Hadithah. Blaxland destroyed the small wooden bridge at Abu Kamal that morning and pulled out, leaving a few AA guns to cover the wreckage. He resolved to move his HQ to the T1 Station, but an hour after he got there, he looked out to see a column of trucks approaching the airfield, wondering who it was.

  He was settling in to brew a ‘cuppa,’ when an adjutant came running in from one of that staff trucks, eyes wide.

  “Sir! It’s the Germans! The Brandenburg Division!”

  Yes, there were no bridges over the Euphrates east of Abu Kamal, but Bekermann’s Brandenburg Division had brought both rafts and bridging equipment…. Speed, concentration on objective, shock. The lessons of war for Lieutenant General Blaxland did not have to taught to him by Brigadier Kingstone that day. He learned now in the best way possible, by experience.

  The teacup jittering in his hand, he bucked up when two companies of AA units came in from the west. “Gentlemen,” he said. “Fire at those chaps out there on the airfield. See if you can drive them off.”

  30th Light AA had six 20mm Polstern AA guns in tow, and they set them up near the pump station house, soon firing streaks of tracer rounds at the distant enemy on the field. Further west, it looked like a big dust storm was starting to blow in—it was—Brigadier Kingstone was arriving with Kingforce and everything left of the 10th Indian Division that would move. That, more than the AA fire, had discouraged 12th Battalion, IV Brandenburgers, from storming into that pump house and slapping the teacup from Blaxland’s hand. As it was, the Colonel sat himself down, watching his six flak guns firing and as he slowly sipped his tea.

  The Germans showed no further interest in the airfield or the pumping station, withdrawing east, and Blaxland passed a moment of satisfaction thinking his Johnny on the Spot orders had saved the day. But an hour later, when the adjutant reported that armored cars from Brigadier Kingstone had radioed to say they were approaching, Blaxland practically choked on his tea. He was up, out the door and headed for a truck, ordering the remnants of his division to H1 immediately.

  The burly, red-faced Brigadier Kingstone was a foe he had no intention of facing again. He would cover H1, but it would soon not matter. The Germans were now only 8 kilometers from cutting that pipeline to Haifa, thereby completely stopping the flow of oil in the steel veins beneath those restless sands. Any oil that came to the Middle East now, would have to come by sea.

  As for the 5th Indian, when its scouts finally reached the Bridge at Rawah, they found it held against them by German troops. The swift moving Brandenburgers had won the race, and they already had a full regiment over the river there and heading on to Hadithah. With his division scattered all over the desert of Al Jazirah, General Briggs radioed to say he would have to find another road and could not reach Hadithah any time soon. Instead, he moved due east, intending to at least place his division astride the road from the river at Haditha to Kirkuk… and Baba Gurgur.

  Word was sent on ahead to the Ban Dahir and Al Asad airfields with the warning that there were now no friendly forces between them and the advancing Germans. Five squadrons would have to abandon the fields, flying west into Iraq. The battle for Eastern Syria had been lost. The Germans had already crossed the Euphrates in two places, building up strength and sending battalion columns flying east along the main road, just south of the river. Soon word was sent to General Sir Mosley Mayne in Baghdad that he had better soon look to the defense of that city.

  * * *

  Guderian reacted coolly to the news of the British attack towards T4. Needing most of 10th Motorized to stop the 56th London’s attack towards Palmyra, he put together a Kampfgruppe composed of the division recon battalion, the pioneers, and a battery of four 88’s with some mobile 20mm flak guns. Then he asked General Westhoven of 3rd Panzer to send two of his Panzer Battalions back from T3. It seemed the armor would not be needed where he was going.

  The first went south to challenge the 25th Armored Brigade: 14 VH-55 Lions with the 75mm main gun, 16 PzKfw IVF1’s and another 16 Leopard recon tanks. The came up on the North Irish Horse and attacked immediately, supported by infantry from both the 10th Motorized and II Battalion, 99th Gibergs. The crack of the guns was hot on both sides, but the Churchills proved to be tougher than the American Shermans. Five were knocked out in the duel, but the British unit maintained good cohesion, and it was soon to be supported by waves of additional tanks from the 51st and 142nd RTRs.

  The second battalion went directly to T4, where the persistent pressure of the 46th Division had slowly forced back the more lightly armed mountain troops. That battle would rage in and around the valuable pumping station all afternoon, with Guderian feeding in additional reserves he had held back from 3rd Panzer. He looked at his watch, shaking his head.

  “In another two hours they will realize this is useless. Beckerman has Hadithah!”

  * * *

  In spite of its short term tactical success, Alexander was much disheartened when he got the latest report from Kingstone. T1 had been held, along with H1, but the German could not be prevented from bypassing both pump stations and simply cutting the line at Hadithah.

  “Well gentlemen,” he said. “ The blood is no longer flowing in those steel veins out there. It now matters very little whether we take back the T4 station, or even Palmyra. Jerry will be re-routing his lines of communication along the Euphrates now, and there doesn’t seem to be anything we can do about it. Now the real show will be in Iraq. It’s up to the Auck now, and Mosley Mayne. Yet we must still do all in our power here to keep the pressure on, and force the enemy to heavily garrison his lines in this sector. I can tell you all one thing. He’s not going to Damascus, and certainly not on down to Suez—not on my watch.”

  The question now was what to do about Iraq? It was presently defended by only two backwaters divisions, General Mayne’s 21st Indian Corps, which in this history was composed of the 6th and 8th Indian Infantry Divisions. The former was at Baghdad, the latter in the south near Abadan and Bashah. Forewarned of the disaster on the Euphrates, General Mayne was now rushing 8th Infantry north to Baghdad by rail, while the remnants of both 5th and 10th Indian Divisions, so soundly beaten by the Brandenburgers, found ways to retreat back into Iraq.

  10th Indian had to fall back to the south, through the open desert to try and reach Karbala and Hillah, where they would finally arrive on January 24th, tired, bedraggled, and out of fuel. In this move, Glubb Pasha and his Arab Legion was instrumental in pathfinding the best ground for the vehicles, and a chastened and simmering Brigadier Kingstone also took what was left of his detachment along with Blaxland’s division.

  5th Indian had been unable to reach Hadithah from the north when the Germans took the bridge at Rawa, so they followed a thin track that took them
above the massive marshland lake of Tharthar, eventually reaching Tikrit north of Baghdad, in a position to block any immediate German advance on Kirkuk. It was then that the British learned that Northern Iraq was far from secure as well.

  “Ivan Volkov,” said Alexander as he continued his meeting with Generals Wilson and Quinan. “As you know, he controls this whole area around Baku, the province of Azerbaijan. Hitler has a big push on in the Kuban trying to clear out the last Soviet resistance there. Our agents in place in Northern Iran have been trying to scout into Armenia and Georgia to see what’s up, but they’ve uncovered what looks to be a buildup of some concern. Now Bletchley Park confirms it with signals intercepts. Orenburg is assembling their 2nd Turkomen Army under a General Buzul, and it has already moved into Northern Iran from Baku.”

  “Turkomen Army?” said General Maitland Wilson, known as “Jumbo.” A veteran of the Boer War and Passchendaele in the First War, he had commanded forces in Egypt under Wavell for a time, helped organize and direct Operation Scimitar and was now Deputy Commander, Middle East, under Alexander.

  “Here’s the list,” said Alexander, reading from his notes. “It looks to be no more than a small Corps, just two divisions. The first we’re calling the K Division, 1st Turkomen, composed of three Brigades, the Karakum Guards, Khiva and Kranitau Rifles. 2nd Turkomen Division has three more brigades, the Tulu Rifles, Shakaman Horse, and Belek Rifles. There’s a Dervish Cavalry Brigade serving as division troops.”

  “Armor?”

  “None to speak of. These are light horse and mountain troops for the most part, but they will pose a direct threat to Kirkuk and Baba Gurgur, and very soon. We shall have to send 5th Indian back there at once.”

  “They’re worn out,” said General Quinan, British 10th Army Commander in Palestine and Syria.

  “Well, they’ll have to be fleshed out with recruits from Kurdish levees. It’s all we can do for the moment. Yet if we do move them to Kirkuk, I should think one of Sir Mosley’s divisions will have to move north to Tikrit as a blocking force. The Germans are worn out too, gentlemen. They’ve run about 300 miles in three weeks, and they now seem to be pausing at Haditha to collect themselves and bring up fuel. That gives us a window of time to get our own house in order, and we’d better be quick about it. Now…. I’ve spoken with Auchinlek, and we’re both in agreement that General Mayne’s troops, even with the 5th and 10th Indian Divisions back, are simply not adequate. First off, he has no armor to speak of, and we know that at least one full panzer division has already reached the T1 Pump Station behind the Brandenburgers.”

  “Isn’t 7th Armored Brigade due in at Alexandria from Benghazi?” Jumbo Wilson was shuffling through some reports on his clipboard.

  “True enough,” said Alexander. “I was thinking to bring it up here and join the fight, but under the circumstances, we’re a long way from either Kirkuk or Basra. So 7th Armored will stay right on the boats, transit the Suez, and continue on through the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and into the Persian Gulf. It will join 9 Armored Brigade down near Basra, where it’s been posted to watch over the oil facilities.”

  “Will there be any difficulties getting troops and equipment into the Gulf?” Wilson was looking to their lines of communications.

  “Somerville says he can sortie with his carrier force from Madagascar to cover things, as he has been for convoys these last months. Old Ark Royal is on the watch there now. Tovey says it’s the best damn aircraft carrier, pound for pound, in the whole world, and the Japanese have made no move to challenge him since they took Ceylon.

  “Good,” said Wilson. “That will give us something to start with in Iraq. But it may take a little more. The Germans already have three divisions on the central Euphrates bend, 3rd Panzer, their 22nd Luftland, and the Brandenburg Division. The latter certainly made short work of the Indian divisions.”

  “We might do better with the Indian Infantry if we fight for Baghdad. Do you think Jerry wants it?” asked Quinan.

  “I don’t see how he can contemplate a move either north or south without first controlling Baghdad,” said Alexander. “It sits right astride his lines of communication in either event. Yes, he’ll have to take it.”

  “Then we fight for the city, where the infantry might better acquit itself.” Quinan folded his arms, as if settling on that premise as a given.

  “At present,” said Alexander, “Jerry is regrouping at Hadithah, about 120 miles from Baghdad. If he goes south for Basra from Baghdad, he’s looking at another 300 mile jaunt. It would be half that distance up to Kirkuk.”

  “Basra may be a far reach for them,” said Wilson, “and I don’t think they can do both at the same time. Surely they can’t think those Turkomen divisions will do the job for them, not against British Indian troops.”

  “Agreed,” said Alexander. “Yet that may be their plan. Remember, this 22nd Luftland Division of theirs is air mobile. We’ve had air superiority thus far, but things are… scattered since the setback on the Euphrates. The squadrons had had to fly off to airfields in Iraq on short notice, and a lot of service crews and supply troops got left in their dust. Some of the planes hopped to Habbaniyah, but we won’t have that for very much longer. As to Northern Iraq, there’s always the added possibility that the Germans could bring in more troops through Turkey. Be aware that the rail line runs all the way through Mosul to Baghdad, so we can’t leave any stone unturned.”

  “Can we get anything more from India?” asked Wilson

  “I’ve put that very question to Wavell. He’s settling in over there as Viceroy, and General Slim says the Japanese have not been aggressive of late. He willing to send over the heart of his command, British 2nd Infantry Division.”

  “Here, here,” said Wilson, slapping the table. “Top notch.” He had commanded that very division in 1940.

  “Gentlemen,” said Alexander. “If we can pair the 2nd Infantry up with 7th and 9th Armored Brigades, by God, I think we’ve got a hammer for Iraq. To top it off, Wavell says he thinks he can get us the 7th Indian Division as well.” He smiled. “We’ll have a decent army to fight with over there in short order, but I don’t think Sir Mosley can manage it all. I need a good man, and as General Quinan here has a firm grip on 10th Army, General Wilson, it’s all yours. You are now the official commander of Paliforce. The Auk will handle administrative matters, but you’re our man in the field.”

  That was a most wise decision, for while Quinan was a stickler for detail, methodical, and almost laborious in the planning he would make for each and every unit under his command, that style would be ill suited for the battle that was soon to be fought in Iraq, one of maneuver, bold thrusts, and imaginative calculated risks. Guderian was already a master of this craft. The question now was whether Jumbo Wilson could measure that man, and bring him to heel.

  As Wilson nodded in acceptance of his new command, he knew he had no intention of fighting such a battle against Guderian, unless he was given no other choice. As if reading his mind, Alexander asked him how he planned to operate.

  “Well now,” said Wilson. “I’m going to get everything I can to Baghdad and fight them tooth and nail for that city. I’m going to make them pay for every house and street—a nice little battle of attrition, I should think.”

  Alexander smiled.

  Chapter 12

  1-FEB-1943

  Some say it was a proverbial ‘accident waiting to happen,’ and no matter how the cards of fate are shuffled, some things were meant to be. That was to be the case in this history, only the event that some would later call the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ would instead take place a month early, on the night of February 3rd. As it was in the real history, the tragedy was masked in secrecy, hidden from the public for many years after, and subject to cover stories and accounts that varied dramatically from one another.

  The East End of London had been hit particularly hard over the years by German bombers. Some families still scratching out a living there could honestly say they h
ad been bombed out of their homes at least three times. During the Blitz, millions of young children were evacuated to safer climes in the country, but many families hung on in London, picking their way through the rubble each day, and ‘tidying up’ as best they could.

  The bombing had not been anywhere near as bad in 1943, as the German Luftwaffe was simply too busy elsewhere. But at times, particularly in reprisal for RAF raids on a big German city, Hitler would order a stronger raid into London. The trigger for the event this time was an RAF raid on Berlin to kick off the month of February. In reprisal, the German bombers came for London two days later, and the wail of the air raid sirens droned over the city.

  Out in Victoria Park, a quiet little secret was setting up for a test against the very action that was expected that day. It was called a “Z-Battery,” which was a rack of up to 36 new 76mm anti-aircraft rockets. They weren’t very accurate, which was why they were fired as a barrage to have a better chance of hitting something. That day, the drone of enemy bombers was going to send then growling into the grey London sky, with an effect that few ever anticipated.

  Peter Waller knew something was up when the radio went quiet, a sure sign of trouble whenever it happened. His job was to get over to the family “Bundle Shop,” which was the nearest little storage place that had been set aside for families to stow away their bundles of bedding. He would fetch the bundle for Liz and the girls, and then get over to the nearest Tube Station to stake out a good spot on the platform below. The others would find him there, and the family could camp out in complete safety. The Tubes had evolved to mini-underground cities in places. Some had little kitchens, hospitals, sanitary facilities, even a library for folks to find something to take their minds off the rumble of the bombs falling over head.